Residential Rental Property Program

The City Council passed Sub. 1 to Ordinance 06-016 (Wilmington City Code Chapter 34-45) requiring all rental properties in the City of Wilmington, Delaware to be registered, licensed and inspected by the City. The City's primary concern is to gain compliance with its regulations relating to the safe occupancy of property and ensure that rental properties are conforming to the same property maintenance standards as owner occupied homes within the City.

With the goal of preserving and improving the City of Wilmington's rental properties and, in turn, its neighborhoods, we are pleased to present you with this guide of useful and important information. The information in this guide will help the City of Wilmington's staff work together with landlords to keep properties in good condition, protect individual and business investments, and make properties continually attractive and healthy for residents and visitors to enjoy.

We encourage all landlords to understand and abide by the City codes related to their properties and to be aware of their responsibility in ensuring the integrity of our valued neighborhoods.

In that effort, the Department of Licenses and Inspections will continue our residential rental property inspections.

We are anticipating full compliance from the owners of rental properties and we look forward to assisting you with this process.